


This Is Home

by BubbleTeaHugs



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: But he also cares and is just being a tsundere, Danny is emotional, Dash is an ass, Honestly I dont know how to tag things, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, NSFW will be mentioned before it happens, Skeptical Sam, Supportive Jazz, Tucker is just clueless, Yaoi, gay shiz, mentions of self harm, swagger bishie, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2019-08-02 05:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16299134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubbleTeaHugs/pseuds/BubbleTeaHugs
Summary: Dash hears a beautiful voice coming from the schools showers. Danny is singing his angsty self away. What happens when Dash finds out that Danny is depressed as heck and has lots of self confidence issues?Also just a bit of a trigger warning, some self harm/depression/suicidal thoughts are mentioned. Please take care of yourself and don't read if you may come under harm's way be doing so. Remember to love yourself <3





	1. Chapter 1

“All right maggots, you've got ten minutes to rinse off.” The gym teacher yelled at her class. Students began to scurry for the locker rooms, eager to get to the showers. It was a well-known fact that only some of the showers had hot water settings, while the majority would leave the poor souls that had to use them feeling like they walked into a blizzard. 

Dash was in no rush, however. He knew that he could just shove whoever made it to the good showers out of the way. Nobody would say anything to him after all, being as strong and popular as he was. 

Confidently, Dash walked into the locker room to see everyone running around. As he walked down the row of showers, Dash could see that most of the warm showers were already occupied. Dash spotted the last open one in the very back and slyly walked over to it. Luckily he didn't have to fight to get it this time.

Meanwhile, Danny decided to camp out in one of the bathroom stalls. It had been his routine to wait until everyone was gone before he showered. He was a bit shy and self-conscious about his body. Plus there was the fact that he was covered in a mix of scars from ghost fighting and dealing with bullies. Well, it wasn't really dealing with, more like assuming the fetal position until help arrived or the boys tired themselves out. Either way, Danny was not showering when people could so easily move the curtain and embarrass him. Plus having the next period free was a bonus. He could take as long as he liked.

Ten minutes had passed and most people had already left for their next class. The remaining students were still packing up their things. Danny decided that this would be as good a time as ever to walk out of the stall. He opened up his locker and fished for a clean pair of clothes. After finding them, he headed for the showers. It seemed to Danny like nobody was left in the locker room, so he felt calm. 

He pulled back the shower curtain to one of the warm showers and stepped in. He hung his clothes on the hooks outside of the shower. Danny wished silently to himself that the showers had curtains on them. It would make more sense to have it that way, he thought. Brushing it off, he turned the knob and allowed the water to begin heating up. Danny stripped down to his boxers before pausing, taking a second look around, and then getting fully undressed. 

Somewhere in Casper High, Dash Baxter was realizing that he forgot his jacket in the locker rooms. Groaning, he knew he didn't have to go back to get it. But of course, he wanted to. Dash knew that he could be late for class and nobody would say anything. Hell, he could skip and no reproductions would come his way. Taking comfort in those facts, he turned around and headed back to the locker room. 

As Dash opened the door, he heard soft humming. Normally he wouldn't bother to even pay attention to it, but the owner of the voice sounded so soft and sweet. He couldn't help but listen in. Dash quietly closed the door as to not startle the hummer. He tiptoed around to look for his jacket. Looking in his locker and finding it empty, he came to the conclusion that he had left it next to the shower on the hook. 

Facepalming himself, he crept over to the hall of showers. The humming became louder and Dash realized that the person must be showering. It was only then that he noticed the sound of running water being sloshed around. 

Dash skimmed the area and saw that his jacket was hanging on the hook next to the occupied shower. Carefully, he crept over to his missing jacket. He took it off the hook as quietly as he could. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Dash began to hear words coming from the shower. 

Now Danny, he was having a good shower. He lathered himself up in soap and was humming to his favorite song. After a few minutes of becoming comfortable with the situation, Danny let go of his anxiety and started to sing. 

“Are you tired of me yet? I'm a little sick right now but I swear when I'm ready I will fly us out of here…” Danny song. The song brought back memories from his past. Memories he wanted to forget but knew that he had to accept sometime. With a sigh, he continued the song. 

“Ooooh, I'll cut my hair. Ooooh, to make you stare. Ooooh, I'll hide my chest and I'll figure out a way to get us out of here.” Dash listened in adamantly. This voice seemed to hypnotize him for some reason. He didn't know why, but he began to feel somewhat melancholy as he heard the song. Some sadness waved over him. 

“Get a load of this monster! He doesn't know how to communicate. His mind is in a different place. Will everybody please give him a little bit of space!” Danny belted out. It was only when he was alone that he really let his emotional side take control. With being half dead and all, Danny really felt like a freak sometimes. Sure he was a hero to Amity Park, but they didn't know the real him. They wouldn't care. They would laugh. 

Sometimes Danny just wanted to get rid of it all. Stop being a hero. Stop dealing with all of this pain. Hell, Danny wanted to stop living sometimes. He had been battling depression even before he had the accident. But even being known as a savior didn't help that. Nothing could. And this made Danny extremely sad. 

Dash was confused as to why the singing had stopped. He felt like there was more to the song, and he wanted to hear it. The guy singing it felt so passionate, so raw with emotion when he was singing. Dash couldn't help but think nobody else could sing the song as well as the guy. 

Dash paused for a moment. His ears perked up as he heard some soft sobs next to him. A wonderful singer was inside crying, and curiosity got the best of Dash. He was so interested to see who was inside that he didn't even bother to remember that the person would be completely naked in front of him. He wanted to know who could be so emotional about a song. He wanted to know why.

Slowly, Dash peered around the corner, clutching his jacket. The boy was facing the shower head away from Dash. He was rather slim, but muscular in most places as well. He had a rather attractive figure as well if Dash dared say so, and a killer ass to go with it. But this wasn't what grabbed Dash's attention the most. No. His eyes were focused on the countless scars and burns tracing all over the boys back and legs. The boy had damp black hair that was flipped in an odd way with soap suds covering it. The boy had his forehead leaning on the wall, one hand supporting him there. He looked… defeated. That was the only word that Dash could come up with. 

Dash was trying to get a closer look so he could identify the boy when he heard him speak. This startled Dash so much he almost fell over. 

“Why can’t I just be a normal human?” Dash recognized the owner of the voice almost immediately. It was Danny Fenton. Dash was flustered, realizing that he spent so much time listening in on Fentons singing. But what was worse, Dash enjoyed it. Even knowing now that it was Fenton, he still wanted to hear more. 

Slowly, Dash crept away. He didn't want Fenton to know he was spying on him, much less overhearing his personal turmoil. But as Dash left the locker room he couldn't help but think. 

I wonder what Fenton meant by ‘normal human’?


	2. What Leads To Glowing Eyes

As I washed out the shampoo from my hair, I raised my head to face the shower head. Closing my eyes, I let the water flow over me. In a way it felt like it was cleansing me, relieving me of all of my stress. Being a hero all the time can not only take a toll on your body but your mental state as well. 

 

“What am I even doing?” I whispered to myself. A sense of nihilism welled up inside of me. Every ghost I ever catch will just show back up again. My efforts are pointless. Why do I bother? I sighed aloud and turned off the shower. Now wasn’t the time to think about these things. I just have to dry off and get ready for my next class. Having the late night that I did, what with catching the box ghost for the ninth time this week, I had put off doing my homework in favor of sleep. Having a free period before my Algebra class was something I would be forever grateful for.

 

Grabbing a towel, I dried myself off. I ran my fingers through my hair and noticed how long it was getting to be. Maybe I should get it cut soon? I grabbed my clothes and began to dress. Leaving the showers, I headed for my locker and opened the door to grab my unfinished work. I crammed my dirty clothes into my school bag. They definitely needed a trip through the washer.

 

After sitting down on the locker room bench for a good half hour, I came to the conclusion that I would never understand what the quadratic equation was or how to use it. And fine by me! I don’t need math to fight ghosts. How ridiculous would that be? I laughed to myself at the idea of having some sort of math battle with Skulker to see who could solve a problem faster. Just stupid...

 

With the bell about to ring, I packed up my things and swung my backpack over my shoulder. I peeked out the door to make sure the coast was clear of any unwanted attention and continued on when I saw that I was safe. It was nice to be able to walk down the school hallways without being elbowed by the sea of teenagers rushing to their next class. 

 

I started to hum again as I walked. It was a soft and rather random tune, but I didn't mind. It was relaxing to allow whatever notes I wanted into existence. 

 

Blinking slowly, I turned at a corner in the hall. My relaxed state of mind was disrupted when I saw Dash standing at his locker. We had our last period in the same room, so it wasn't too surprising to see him there. However, today was not going so well for me, so a limited number of run-ins with Dash would be preferable. I pulled out my phone and pretended to message someone as I slowly crept by. 

 

This didn't seem to go over as well as I had hoped. As I peaked to see if he saw me, we made eye contact. But that was only for a second before Dash slammed his locker shut, making me jump. He glared at me. I froze in my place, shifting unconsciously. He took two steps towards me. I moved back. 

 

I felt a bead of sweat starting to form on my forehead.  _ What the hell does he want now? Did I do something to piss him off? _ Questions raced through my mind. My shoulders tensed and I locked my knees. My breath hitched as Dash reached out his hand. 

 

Just as Dash was about to say something, the bell rang through the halls, releasing clusters of students from their classes and into the halls. The sudden influx of people allowed me to merge with the crowd, camouflaging myself from Dash. There is no way I was going to stick around for him to use as a punching bag. 

 

I ducked into the classroom I had been heading to before. By breathing in and out slowly I was able to calm my heart rate. It looked to me like I was the first one in the classroom. Good. 

 

Walking a few rows back from the front I sat down at my desk. Putting my seat in the middle of the classroom must have been some sort of way for my teacher to get back at me. 

 

It always felt like I was suffocating in the center of everything, and like everyone was staring at me. This could just be written off as anxiety, but it always felt like more than that to me. 

 

As I began settling into my spot, I was reminded that Dash was also in my last class. He stood in the doorway and started staring me down as soon as he saw me. 

 

Dash's eyes fixated on me. I felt my hands becoming clammy and body became stiff. Boy was I in for it. He stomped over to my table and slammed his palms down on the wooden surface, knocking my notebook and pencil to the ground. 

 

“Meet me. After class. Back of the school. Don't be late.” He seemed frustrated, but not in his usual cocky and generally pissed off way. This set me off, but I still nodded quickly. I swallowed loudly. Dash held our eye contact a few seconds longer. He broke it with a rather droopy expression. Something was definitely wrong here. 

 

Finally able to look around again, I saw that the class was nearly full of students in their seats and that our instructor was ready to start class. 

 

The entire period I could feel Dash's eyes on me. I would glance over my shoulder and we would meet each other's gaze. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, but I just had to put up with it for a little longer. 

 

Our instructor droned on about slope intercept form and how y = mx + b while I fidgeted with the edges of my sleeves. The bell was getting dangerously close to ringing. The anxiety building up was going to reach its peak soon. I pulled out my phone under the desk and opened the messaging app. 

 

Danno: Hey I’m gonna be late to walk with you guys today 

 

Trucker: Get detention or just suck at alge-bro?

 

Danno: Algebro?

 

Trucker: Like Algebra and bro… 

Trucker: together… 

Trucker: I thought it was funny!

 

Samonella: I mean I guess you tried

 

Danno: I’ll tell you guys later

Danno: It’s too much to message 

 

Samonella: Fair

 

Trucker: But I NEED the drama!!

 

Samonella: Patience little nerd

 

_ Trucker changed Truckers name to BIG LARGE nerd _

 

Samonella: Wow I’m so impressed. 

 

I smiled fondly at my phone. No matter how silly they can be, Sam and Tucker will always be my best friends. They know just how to cheer me up, so whatever happens, today will be okay. 

 

Just as I finished that thought, the bell loudly rang, interrupting our teacher's sentence. Students grabbed their bags and ran out of the door. Crap why didn’t I get everything together quicker. I heard heavy footsteps coming up from behind me and my muscles tensed. 

 

A large hand thumped on my desk and a pair of glaring eyes met mine. Eyes that said if I didn’t come I was dead meat. I sunk further into my seat and averted my gaze. I grabbed my notebook and pens and shoved them messily into my backpack. I swung it around my shoulder and stood up. 

 

“Ready?” Dash said in a low voice that resonated through the room. The remaining students in the room hushed and glanced over. I hated all the attention. 

 

I slowly nodded and kept my eyes on the ground. I lagged behind about three paces from Dash as to avoid drawing any more wandering eyes. My legs felt heavy and my hands turned clammy. 

 

“Hurry up.” He blandly said without any emotion in his voice. He held open the door leading to the courtyard. I crept towards the exit and shivered as I walked past Dash. I walked to a more secluded area figuring that he would follow me so he could beat me up or spit on me or whatever he wanted to do. I knew I would be able to find a way out of it. 

 

I halted once I reached a point I thought was secluded enough.

 

“So lay it on me Dash, what's got your boxers in a knot?” I said feigning confidence. 


	3. Chapter 3: Time To Myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been gone for a hot minute! But I am back and I am gonna try to post more regularly, so yeehaw!

When I turned around to find a frustrated looking Dash, but not the kind of frustrated I was used to seeing. He had this look. This strange confused look in his eyes. The way he was avoiding eye contact more than usual set me on edge more than usual, and I let my voice falter.

“Well?” I asked, wondering what would make him look like this. He quickly faced me with his eyebrows more ajar. He got closer to me and I took a step back as he began to trace his eyes down my body, from my arms to my torso, then down to my legs. I wished at that moment that I was wearing something longer than just a t-shirt and shorts so I could cover myself better, though that wouldn’t be ideal since we were only a month or so into school and it was still hot as hell outside. I pulled down at the edges of my shirt trying to make myself feel less uncomfortable. 

All I could do was stand there as he stared me down in a way he never has. I wished I could just disappear and leave this place. Dash made a huffing sound as he let his eyes fall to the ground, clearly discontent with whatever he found.

“You go hiking or something?” Dash finally asked me. Huh?

“What do you mean?” I asked, puzzled as to what reasonable cause that would create to drag me outside. Not like I would subject myself to any more physical activity than I had to, but why would he care if I was? Jesaturing down to my cut-up arms and legs I finally got it. The other day he had fought the box ghost and ended it with more cardboard caused cuts and bruises than he would care to admit. 

“Um, no.” I quickly replied. Dash clearly unsatisfied tisked and looked me right in the eyes, causing me to stumble back a few inches. He clearly didn’t want to push it further, not wanting to seem as if he cared that much, and I was fine with that. 

“Ugh, whatever,” Dash muttered and turned around. Okay, this is really weird. This is so out of the norm for any sort of interaction that Dash and I had ever had. He started to walk away before pausing. 

“Just watch your back.” And with that, he was gone. Wow okay, kind of a harsh way of starting and ending things I guess, but Dash has always been rough around the edges. I decided that the entire situation spoiled my mood to walk home.

Danno: Hey guys, I’m gonna have to pass on walking today. 

BIG LARGE nerd: But we just waited so LONG for you

Samonella: is everything okay?

Danno: Yeah it's all good, I just feel like taking a short cut today.  
Samonella: yeah that's valid.

BIG LARGE nerd: You better spill later though, and I mean ALL the tea sis

Danno: Yeah yeah later.

I fixed my phone inside my backpack and surveyed the area. Not many people, not much of a problem for me. I crouched down to hide behind a bush and let my eyes light up green, beginning to transform. It's a strange sensation I have gotten strangely accustomed to. How the surge of power flows throughout my body, filling me with energy. I turned myself invisible and took off to the sky.

The breeze of autumn air made me feel alive after a long day of dreary lessons. Nothing made me feel better than a change of scenery, and looking over the town on my way home did just that for me. It helped me to put my life into perspective and think more about how my little problems didn’t really matter in the bigger picture. But these thoughts only really lasted for moments before I arrived at my house, slowing down for the landing at my window. 

I threw my bag onto my desk and plopped onto my bed, letting my eyes shut and relaxing my body. I let the events of today go by in my mind as I slowly drifted into darkness.

 

When I woke up, it was to Jazz knocking on my door. 

“Danny, are you sleeping again? You know that taking naps during the day is bad for your health and it can mess with your sleep cycles!” She shouted through the door with her high pitched voice. I groaned.

“Yeah yeah I’m up!” I yelled in response, wanting her to go away. I felt the door knob jiggle and the door soflty creak open. Quickly sitting up as to not allude to the fact I was sleeping, I rubbed my eyes and watched Jazz come in. 

“Pfft, your hair is all messy.” Jazz snickered. I reached up to the top of my head and scrunched down, feeling the tufts and fluffs sticking out in all sorts of directions. Groggily, I smoothed it out into its usual fringey fluff.

“Did you need something?” I questioned, wondering why Jazz was even in my room in the first place. She looked up as if trying to find her thought bubble.

“Actually there was one thing.” She concluded, looking like something might be on her mind. “It’s just that, you’ve been in your room a lot more than you usually are, and you aren’t really hanging out with your friends as much. I was just wanting to make sure you were doing okay.” She spoke softly, trying to allow me to confide in her. 

“Well, school’s just been rough and I have a lot of homework to be doing. Nothing really out of the ordinary here really.” I told her, hoping that would get her out of my hair. It’s true that I am getting more class work and I should be doing it, and Tucker and Sam don’t really deserve to be shoved off as much, but between my full-time job fighting ghosts and going to school, I haven’t been having enough time to be alone. 

“Okay that makes sense! But just be sure you’re balancing out everything so you can get everything done.” Jazz told me as if she were my parent. I rolled my eyes, but it was nice to know that someone was checking up on me. Our parents are always either busy in the lab or out on the field, there isn’t really much room for them to be our mom and dad. 

“Can you get out of my room now? I got some stuff to do.” I asked, wanting to wake up some more on my own terms. She nodded and got up to leave, closing the door quietly behind her. 

I laid back down and checked my phone. I hadn't even realized that it was dark outside until I saw that it was already 8. I threw my phone to the side and tilted my head to face the window. The sky was barely cloudy and it looked like a wonderful night for stargazing. 

Stargazing huh? That might be a nice way to spend the night before I get tired enough to go to sleep for the night. Throwing on my jacket I readied myself for my nighttime adventure to the park. Once again I transformed and flew outside. The chilled air hit my skin and I felt refreshed. It's been a long time since I went stargazing outside!

City lights lit up the night and I could see people walking on the streets, probably on their way home or out for a night on the town. I flew out further to the hillside of Amity Park and was pleased to not see many people. Though I don’t really feel like a celebrity at all, I get pointed out more times and ran up to more times than I care to admit. The whole fame thing doesn’t really fit in well with my more reclusive nature. 

As I was nearing the summit I decided to land and finish the walk up. It feels nice sometimes to just do things the normal way too. As my feet hit the ground I recentered myself as to not fall over, and gently touched down all the way. I flipped up the hood on my jacket and began to finish my walk up the hill.

Just as I reached the top I noticed a light coming from someone's phone and decided to slow down my already quite leisurely pace. Using the hood to cover my glowing eyes, I kept walking in the hopes of not being recognized. The closer and closer I got to passing the person, the more familiar their silhouette became. I decided I would try softly humming to myself as a way to not startle whoever it was. I’m sure they are just trying to enjoy this beautiful night too.

That same song that had been stuck in my head since yesterday came into my mind and so I took a deep breath and started to hum along to its lyrics. For some reason that peaked the pedestrians interest and they shut off their phone. I found it a little strange but I just kept walking. As I was nearing where the person was I tried to put as much distance between us I could while still staying on the path as to avoid any confrontation. 

“Fenton?” A voice I knew well called out.

“Dash?”


	4. Chapter 4: Starry Night and Dim Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? Wow I am on a roll here :)

I pulled my hood up just enough to be able to confirm if the voice truly belonged to him. Yup, this was Dash alright, sat manspread on the ground with his varsity jacket wrapped snugly around him. I could see the faint green glow on his skin start to appear as I leaned in closer. I started to panic a little, remembering that Dash had just called me Fenton. Did he know?

“Oh, it’s just you. Hey” Dash sighed and propped himself up with his arms behind his back. He let his rather tense face fall and I wondered what was up with him lately. Of course he didn’t know, and there isn’t much way that someone like him could fit two and two together.

“Haha, yeah, just me,” I replied. “So what has you outside this late?” I curiously asked, knowing that Dash would feel more comfortable talking to my ghost form more than my human one. All of the conversations we have had when I’m like this have always been much more relaxed. But this seemed to strike something in him that made his face scrunch up. He paused for a long while and I thought that he might be ignoring me for a second, but then he spoke.

“Tell me… Do you think I’m a bad person?” He questioned, seeming to not only want to reach me but to reach something deeper inside of him. I wanted to laugh at him then and there, of course he was a bad person! The years of bullying I and so many other weaker kids at Casper High have had to deal with, and not only that but the things he has said to my friends, of course he was.

But something inside of me was pulled to sit down next to him. I pulled down my hood all the way and made sure there was a good foot or two between him and I. I calmed down the anxious voice inside of me and reminded myself that I was Phantom here and that I could be confident in this moment.

“Why do you ask?” It was the only thing I could think of saying without blowing up in his face, and therefore blowing my cover.

“Well…” He trailed off, but I waited patiently for his response, looking up to the stars. “Something happened today that’s kind of hard to explain. But there is this kid.” Dash started, eyes following mine to the stars to avoid any unnecessary eye contact. “I’ve been kind of an ass to him for the past year or so, but I am kind of starting to worry about him.” Dash is worried about someone? Not even just that, but someone he has been bullying? Maybe he was finally starting to grow a sense of morality and understanding that he was in the wrong.

“Oh yeah, why is that?” I wondered curiously, trying to think of what sort of colossal thing happened to him to make him rethink his choices.

“His back.” Dash flatly stated.

“His back?”

“Well, not only his back but his everywhere. He is covered in cuts and bruises and I am worried about how he is getting them. You’d think he was out doing the same work you do with all those injuries.” I felt myself growing colder from the inside and bit my lip.

“How many of those were from you?” I asked quietly, not entirely wanting to be heard. Dash turned to face me.

“So you know about my reputation huh?” He sighed again and faced the night sky. “Too many to say I am proud.” He breathed out and let himself fall to the grass while propping up his head.

“Then why are you worried now? I mean, if you’ve done it before, why would it matter to you?” I was getting resentful, but the longer we talked the more curious I became. Nothing like this should matter to the Dash Baxter. Nothing.

“I don’t know, maybe it was the way he sang. He sounded so sad and… it hurt.” My eyes widened. I remembered how I was singing in the showers after I thought everyone had left but… There is no way he could have been there without me knowing, right?

“Singing, huh?” My voice faltered a little. “You couldn’t be talking about-”

“Fenton, yeah. I guess he has just been on my mind today.” Dash seemed too far off in thought to really notice anything weird about how Phantom would know about Fenton's daily life, but that didn’t really matter right now.

Dash and I continued to sit in silence for a while longer, just watching the stars go by. Strangely enough, having someone else with me made me feel a little bit better. Stargazing by myself can get kind of bland sometimes. It's nice to feel the world spinning with someone next to you.

“I want to change.” Dash choked out. I whipped my head around to see that his eyes were becoming slim as tears started to spill out one by one. His mouth was shaped in a strange way as he was trying to be silent. At that moment I could see myself in him, so confused and full of regret. Like from this moment on everything he did would be different.

“Hey, come on Dash, it’ll be okay.” I tried my hand in comforting the strongly built athlete. Kneeling up and wrapping an arm around his shoulder, I pulled him in for a bit of a hug. Dash just sat there, not reciprocating or denying the embrace, wiping away his tears.

“It’s just, the longer I think about it, the more I can see the terrible things I have done.” He sniffled, “All of the people I’ve hurt…” He shook his head trying to remove the thoughts from his head. “I’m pretty pathetic, huh?” He looked at me with a grimacing smile. I could feel the tugging on my heartstrings in empathy for the poor guy. Thinking about it more, though he has done some pretty shitty things to me, I can’t help but want to believe him when he says he wants to be different.

“Than be the change that you want to make,” I told him. “I couldn’t just sit by and watch ghosts terrorize Amity Park. I wanted there to be a change and so I made it happen. It may be really hard and taxing on me, but I still want to try my best to do what I can for everyone else.” I stood up, stretched out my back, and turned to face Dash.

“You can do it too.” I held out my hand for him. He chuckled to his side and took my hand, letting me pull him up. Once he got his footing, he squeezed my hand as if we shook hands.

“Thanks man, I wish I had more people in my life like you. Not many people can be real to me like that.” He looked a little embarrassed, probably because he had just cried in front of someone he looks up to.

“It's no problem, that’s what I’m here for,” I replied. “But we might want to think about heading home soon.” Dash pulled out his phone and winced at the sudden light. Seeing that it was past 11, we both figured now would be a good time to leave.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later.” Dash started to walk away down the path, but I decided to stop him.

“Wait! Did you, um, want a ride?” I asked, wanting to make sure he got home okay after the heavy conversation we just had. His eyes lit up and he walked right back up to me.

“Absolutely.” Dash excitedly exclaimed. I grabbed one of his hands and started to let the ectoplasmic power pump more vigorously throughout me.

“Hold on tight.” And with that, I started to raise us both slowly into the air. Once we had reached a level over the trees, I started to head in the direction of the town. I could tell Dash was getting a little bit nervous so I tightened my grab on his hand a little bit more.

“Don’t worry, you won't fall. But you might want to point me in the direction of your house, I’m getting a little lost here.” I nervously said, making Dash laugh to himself a little bit. He pointed out the direction of his house and I made quick time of getting him home after that.

Setting him off by his front door I waved him goodbye. But as I started to leave he grabbed my wrist.

“Would you mind if I got your phone number? Just in case I need you.” He asked quietly as to not cause a scene on the streets what with the ghost boy being there.

“Sure why not?” Dash passed Danny his phone and I put in my contact info. And with that I was off, flying quickly back to my own house. I remembered the homework I still had to get done. I groaned as I landed back safely into my room.

But not a moment had passed before I felt a chill down my spine and saw a bluish mist escape from between my lips. Hearing the cries of people in the city and hearing the Box Ghost loudly proclaiming his name, I figured that I wouldn’t be finishing my homework or getting any more sleep.


End file.
